Bauchi can’t pay WAEC fees for students after spending N3.6billion on cars

The Bauchi State Government has stated that it would not be able to sponsor students in the state in their coming Senior Secondary School (WAEC) examinations.

This is same government that recently spent as much as N3.6billion to purchase official cars for its officials.

Bauchi can’t pay WAEC fees after spending N3.6billion on cars

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The Bauchi State Government on Friday said it could not sponsor over 8,000 candidates from the state for the Senior Secondary School (WAEC) examinations, because of lack of funds, a stark contradiction for a state that recently spent N3.6 billion on new cars for its officials.

The government will sponsor only about 13,000 candidates out of 21,000 available students, chief of staff to the governor, Ladan Salihu, said in a press statement.

Mr Salihu said the state has pleaded with WAEC to allow parents pay for their wards who did not make it on the government sponsored list.

This development is coming days after PREMIUM TIMES showed how the state governor, Bala Mohammed, had been enmeshed in a vehicle contract scandal worth N3.6 billion in violation of federal and state procurement laws.

The governor awarded the contract to a company in which he has a stake. The contract was for the supply of a whopping 105 “official vehicles” for the use of the governor and other government officials.

Contract of this nature are expected to follow standard bidding processes through open competitive bidding, according to the Bauchi State Public Procurement, Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Agency Law.

Also, the Code of Conduct law, in section 5 and 6, bars public officers from putting themselves in position of conflict of interest and disallows them from partaking in any business other than farming.

Another issue with the award of the N3.6 billion contract is the inflation of the amount involved and the number of vehicles that outsized the number of officials whom the vehicles were meant for.

While the 2019 Bauchi State budget provide for N1 billion for motor vehicles purchases to be handed by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Muhammad’s led administration increased the money by N2.6 billion.

Source: Liala’s News

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